Weaving personal essay and intimate character studies, LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY explores Germany’s remembrance culture, and the uses and abuses of collective memory.
SYNOPSIS
Interweaving the stories of a Holocaust survivor descendant, a Nazi descendant historian, Palestinian artists in exile, and the filmmakers’ own reckoning with her familial trauma and her father's ALS, LANDSCAPES OF MEMORY explores how collective memory is both forgotten and instrumentalized, and how the younger generation is finding new ways to confront and reclaim history.
Director Statement
As the daughter of a 9/11 survivor and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, I want to bridge countries and communities together through a story of remembrance work. I have witnessed the effects of co-opting the Holocaust to promote nationalist and far right agendas. At 10 years old, my family and I were glued to the TV screen watching bombs fall on Iraq when I asked the question, “Why is Iraq getting attacked if they did not cause 9/11?” I realized at a young age how our grief was weaponized and misplaced.
As a storyteller, it is my goal to bring people into spaces they normally would not engage and to tell stories that are unexpected and filled with nuance.
By anchoring my personal memorialization process with what I learned in Germany, I aim to initiate dialogue beyond echo chambers and explore memorialization's applicability across nations and communities.
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Leah Galant
Leah Galant is a Jewish director and Fulbright Scholar based in New York whose storytelling focuses on unexpected narratives that challenge perceptions. In 2022, she was recognized as one of DOC NYC’s 40 under 40. Leah’s directorial debut ON THE DIVIDE premiered at the Tribeca 2021 Film Festival and was broadcast on POV PBS on April 18th 2022. She was a Sundance Ignite and Jacob Burns Fellow where she created DEATH METAL GRANDMA (SXSW 2018) about a 97 year old Holocaust survivor named Inge Ginsberg who sings death metal which won “Best Documentary” at the American Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival, and is a NY Times Op Doc. While at Ithaca College in 2015 she was named one of Variety’s “110 Students to Watch in Film and Media” for her work on THE PROVIDER that follows a traveling abortion doctor in Texas (SXSW 2016, Student Emmy Award) and BEYOND THE WALL about a formerly incarcerated individuals re-entry process. She is currently a member-owner at Meerkat Media cooperative production company and working on her second feature length film on memory culture
Elijah Stevens
Elijah Stevens is a documentary producer based in New York City. He is producing a slate of independent feature productions, and is a founding producer of Signpost Pictures, with Sara Dosa and Shane Boris. He associate produced HOLLYWOODGATE (Venice 2023), KING COAL (Sundance 2023; POV PBS 2024), FIRE OF LOVE (Sundance 2022; Academy Award nominee for Documentary Feature 2023) and co-produced THE INVISIBLE EXTINCTION (CPH:DOX 2022). He also co-produced an episode of TASTE THE NATION (Hulu 2020) and associate produced THE SEER & THE UNSEEN (2019) which won the McBaine Bay Area Documentary Prize at its SFFILM 2019 World Premiere. He also associate produced SKY AND GROUND (World Channel 2018) which premiered at DOC NYC and was nominated for Best Feature in the IDA Documentary Awards, TOWARDS THE NORTH (2017), and LOS COMANDOS (World Channel 2018), which was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Elijah has associate produced short-form documentary films for The New York Times, as well as music videos and commercial content. His work has been supported by Sundance, The Gotham, DOCsBarcelona, DOK Leipzig, DOC NYC, DOK.Forum, and Ji.hlava, amongst others. He was a 2019-2020 fellow in the UnionDocs Collaborative Studio, and received a BA in Latin American Studies and Government from Wesleyan University.
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